“My Mother Was Nuts” by Penny Marshall

For most of my life people have mistaken Penny Marshall for my mother or my sister, but she is my aunt. Her memoir “My Mother Was Nuts” was published in 2012 and one of the things I love about this book is that I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. While for 35 years I wrote nearly ever day with her big brother, my dad, I only wrote speeches and magazine articles with Penny occasionally. So I found this book a pleasure to read because it was not a project that I had anguished over. “My Mother Was Nuts” is the story of Penny’s life, which comes with a heavier and much darker perspective than Garry’s own more joyful tale from the Bronx to Hollywood. The most unjust thing that happened to Penny growing up was that her sensitive-and-kind-older brother Garry and her beautiful-and-smart-older sister Ronny both went to Northwestern University, and left Penny alone at home with their parents. According to Penny, my grandparents, Tony and Marjorie, were not the best parents, and were miserable in their marriage, too. After reading this memoir, I realized that Penny’s eventual move to Hollywood to work alongside Garry and Ronny was her way of writing her own happy ending. She started out in Garry’s show “The Odd Couple,” and later rose to the highest spot in the Nielsen ratings with a cursive L on her chest as Ms. Defazio in “Laverne & Shirley.” She directed some wonderful movies including “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Big,” “Awakening,” “The Preacher’s Wife,” and her iconic film “A League of Their Own.” My dad bragged that with the movie “Big,” Penny hit a Hollywood home run by becoming the first female director to make a movie that earned more than $100 million. While I admire her incredible talent as a director today, I am always drawn to her abundant Lucille Ball-like energy as a television actress. Garry used to bring home videos from “Laverne & Shirley” and we would watch them together. “She is so funny,” I would say. “Yes,” dad would agree. “You think making people laugh would make her happy. But all she wants is better hair and a great boyfriend.” Maybe that’s where I adopted that sentiment, too. I love you, Penny. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.